ST PAUL, Minn. — *The above video first aired Feb. 13, 2024.
A Minneapolis man was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in prison for his role in a series of violent carjackings and armed robberies targeting rideshare drivers.
Williams Charles Saffold, 21, pleaded guilty back in October to one count of conspiring to use firearms to commit violent crimes and one count of assaulting a federal officer. His sentencing comes after Shevirio Childs-Young, Javeyon Tate and Eric Knight were sentenced last week to 8 years, 6.5 years and 5 years, respectively.
According to prosecutors, Saffold was part of a series of carjackings and robberies between September 2021 and October 2021 that targeted Uber and Lyft drivers. Court documents say Childs-Young and Saffold were part of a scheme where rideshare drivers were lured into specific locations and then forced at gunpoint to unlock their cellphones, provide passcodes and transfer money.
On May 11, 2022, Saffold pulled a pistol at an FBI agent who was attempting to execute a search warrant, according to court documents.
Saffold's sentencing is the final of the four most prolific carjackers involved in this scheme targeting rideshare drivers. Back in October, at the height of the carjacking spike in Minneapolis, KARE 11 News interviewed rideshare driver Fahmi Aden. He described the terror he experienced when he expected to pick up a paying customer but attacked instead.
"He opened the car and then, like, pulled the gun out and his friend came after him and he had a gun, too. I begged them to, like, don't shoot me please," Aden said. "They forced me to change my password and then they took off with my wallet. He like, punched the gun on my face, 'Don't talk don't talk.'"
"I met with a number of the victims early on and I heard that message from them," said U.S. Attorney Andy Luger, who was the lead prosecutor in the case. "And that drove our focus even more."
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